Cycloaddition asymmetric reaction with nitrones

Several asymmetric versions of cycloaddition reactions with nitrones in the presence of optically active metal complexes as Lewis-acid catalysts have been reported [15]. Because of a lack of suitable chiral catalysts, however, the asymmetric design of this reaction was found to be difficult when using a,/(-unsaturated aldehydes as substrates, because these compounds are poor substrates for metal catalysts, probably because of preferential coordination of the Lewis acid catalyst to the nitrone in the presence of monodentate carbonyl compounds. Consequently, inhibition of the catalyst occurs. 

Asymmetric cycloadditions of the chiral non-racemic nitrones 101 and 103 afford the isoxazolidinones 102 and 104 respectively, with high diastereoselectivity. This process can lead to an efficient asymmetric synthesis of /3-amino acids (equations 42 and 43) . This is the first example of asymmetric reactions with ynolates. It is noteworthy that the ynolates show higher reactivity and stereoselectivity than the corresponding lithium ester enolates and demonstrate the high potential of lithium ynolates in asymmetric reactions. 

MacMillan has described a class of readily available, chiral imidazolidi-nones that act as catalysts in a variety of catalytic asymmetric transformations [89]. The chiral imidazolidinone catalyst 103 was noted to be efficient for the activation of simple a, 5-unsaturated aldehydes towards dipolar cycloaddition reactions via the corresponding iminium intermediate 104 (Scheme 18.20) [90]. With crotonaldehyde (102), the [l,3]-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with nitrone 97 furnished the corresponding endo cycloadduct 105 with high stereoselectivity (endolexo=9A (>, 94% ee). The observed stereoselectivity was consistent with preferential formation of the ( )-isomer 104. 

Scheeren et al. reported the first enantioselective metal-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with alkenes in 1994 [26]. Their approach involved C,N-diphenylnitrone la and ketene acetals 2, in the presence of the amino acid-derived oxazaborolidinones 3 as the catalyst (Scheme 6.8). This type of boron catalyst has been used successfully for asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions [27, 28]. In this reaction the nitrone is activated, according to the inverse electron-demand, for a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with the electron-rich alkene. The reaction is thus controlled by the LUMO inone-HOMOaikene interaction. They found that coordination of the nitrone to the boron Lewis acid strongly accelerated the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with ketene acetals. The reactions of la with 2a,b, catalyzed by 20 mol% of oxazaborolidinones such as 3a,b were carried out at -78 °C. In some reactions fair enantioselectivities were induced by the catalysts, thus, 4a was obtained with an optical purity of 74% ee, however, in a low yield. The reaction involving 2b gave the C-3, C-4-cis isomer 4b as the only diastereomer of the product with 62% ee. 

The above described approach was extended to include the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with allyl alcohol (Scheme 6.35) [78]. The zinc catalyst which is used in a stoichiometric amount is generated from allyl alcohol 45, Et2Zn, (R,J )-diisopropyltartrate (DIPT) and EtZnCl. Addition of the nitrone 52a leads to primarily tmns-53a which is obtained in a moderate yield, however, with high ee of up to 95%. Application of 52b as the nitrone in the reaction leads to higher yields of 53b (47-68%), high trans selectivities and up to 93% ee. Compared to other metal-catalyzed asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of... 

The reactions of nitrones constitute the absolute majority of metal-catalyzed asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions. Boron, aluminum, titanium, copper and palladium catalysts have been tested for the inverse electron-demand 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with electron-rich alkenes. Fair enantioselectivities of up to 79% ee were obtained with oxazaborolidinone catalysts. However, the AlMe-3,3 -Ar-BINOL complexes proved to be superior for reactions of both acyclic and cyclic nitrones and more than >99% ee was obtained in some reactions. The Cu(OTf)2-BOX catalyst was efficient for reactions of the glyoxylate-derived nitrones with vinyl ethers and enantioselectivities of up to 93% ee were obtained. 

Zinc-tartrate complexes were applied for reactions of both nitrones and nitrile oxides with allyl alcohol and for both reaction types selectivities of more than 90% ee were obtained. Whereas the reactions of nitrones required a stoichiometric amount of the catalyst the nitrile oxide reactions could be performed in the presence of 20 mol% of the catalyst. This is the only example on a metal-catalyzed asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides. It should however be no-... 

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with alkenes gives isoxazolidines is a fundamental reaction in organic chemistry and the available literature on this topic of organic chemistry is vast. In this reaction until three contiguous asymmetric centers can be formed in the isoxazolidine 17 as outlined for the reaction between a nitrone and an 1,2-disubstituted alkene. The relative stereochemistry at C-4 and C-5 is always controlled by the geometric relationship of the substituents on the alkene (Scheme 8.6). 

Since Huisgen s definition of the general concepts of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, this class of reaction has been used extensively in organic synthesis. Nitro compounds can participate in 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition as sources of 1,3-dipoles such as nitronates or nitroxides. Because the reaction of nitrones can be compared with that of nitronates, recent development of nitrones in organic synthesis is briefly summarized. 1,3-Dipolar cycloadditions to a double bond or a triple bond lead to five-membered heterocyclic compounds (Scheme 8.12). There are many excellent reviews on 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, in particular, the monograph by Torssell covers this topic comprehensively. This chapter describes only recent progress in this field. Many papers have appeared after the comprehensive monograph by Torssell. Here, the natural product synthesis and asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition are emphasized.630 Synthesis of pyrrolidine and -izidine alkaloids based on cycloaddition reactions are also discussed in this chapter. 

The mechanism of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition can be found in Ref. 63 and the references within. The reaction of nitrone with 1,2-disubstituted alkenes creates three contiguous asymmetric centers, in which the geometric relationship of the substituents of alkenes is retained. The synthetic utility of nitrone adducts is mainly due to their conversion into various important compounds. For instance, P-amino alcohols can be obtained from isoxazolidines by reduction with H2-Pd or Raney Ni with retention of configuration at the chiral center (Eq. 8.44). 

Copper(II)-bisoxazoline also catalyzes asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrones with electron-rich alkenes (Eq. 8.57).90... 

An asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of decyl methyl nitrone (135) with (2i )-l-phenyl-but-3-en-2-ol (136) was the key reaction employed by Ohta and co-workers [75]. 

Chiacchio et al. (43,44) investigated the synthesis of isoxazolidinylthymines by the use of various C-functionalized chiral nitrones in order to enforce enantioselec-tion in their cycloaddition reactions with vinyl acetate (Scheme 1.3). They found, as in the work of Merino et al. (40), that asymmetric induction is at best partial with dipoles whose chiral auxiliary does not maintain a fixed geometry and so cannot completely direct the addition to the nitrone. After poor results with menthol ester-and methyl lactate-based nitrones, they were able to prepare and separate isoxazo-lidine 8a and its diastereomer 8b in near quantitative yield using the A-glycosyl... 

Achiral ester-substituted nitrones as well as chiral nitrones can be employed in diastereoselective asymmetric versions of tandem transesterification/[3 + 21-cycloaddition reactions, as shown in Scheme 11.54 (174). High diastereoselectivity and excellent chemical yields have been observed in the reaction with a (Z)-allylic alcohol having a chiral center at the a-position in the presence of a catalytic amount of TiCl4- On the other hand, the reaction with an ( )-allylic alcohol having a chiral center at the a-position, under similar conditions, affords very low selectivities. Tamura et al. has solved this problem with a double chiral induction method. Thus, high diastereoselectivity has been attained by use of a chiral nitrone. 

The carbo- and hetero-Diels-Alder reactions are excellent for the constmction of six-membered ring systems and are probably the most commonly applied cycloaddition. The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition complements the Diels-Alder reaction in a number of ways. 1,3-Dipolar cycloadditions are more efficient for the introduction of heteroatoms and are the preferred method for the stereocontrolled constmction of five-membered heterocycles (1 ). The asymmetric reactions of 1,3-dipoles has been reviewed extensively by us in 1998 (5), and recently, Karlsson and Hogberg reviewed the progress in the area from 1997 and until now (6). Asymmetric metal-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions have also been separately reviewed by us (7-9). Other recent reviews on special topics in asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions have appeared. These include reactions of nitrones (10), reactions of cyclic nitrones (11), the progress in 1996-1997 (12), 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions with chiral allyl alcohol derivatives (13) and others (14,15). 

Chiral exocyclic alkenes such as 112, also having the chiral center two bonds away from the reacting alkene moiety, have been used in highly diastereoselective reactions with azomethine ylides, and have been used as the key reaction for the asymmetric synthesis of (5)-(—)-cucurbitine (Scheme 12.37) (169). The aryl sulfone 113 was used in a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with acyclic nitrones. In 113, the chiral center is located four bonds apart from alkene, and as a result, only moderate diastereoselectivities of 36-56% de were obtained in these reactions (170). 

An alternative and elegant approach to bicyclo[3.3.0]isoxazolidines from alkenyl oximes was developed by Grigg (205) and applied in asymmetric reactions by Hassner et al. (206-209) and others (210). The optically active L-serine derived oxime 130 was proposed to be in a thermal tautomeric equilibrium with the nitrone tautomer 131, which underwent an intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to form the product 132 in 80% yield as a single stereoisomer (Scheme 12.44) (209). 

The development and application of catalytic enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions is a relatively new area. Compared to the broad application of asymmetric catalysis in carbo- and hetero-Diels-Alder reactions (337,338), which has evolved since the mid-1980s, the use of enantioselective metal catalysts in asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions remained almost unexplored until 1993 (5). In particular, the asymmetric metal-catalyzed reactions of nitrones with alkenes has received considerable attention during the past 5 years. 

Cyclic nitrones with substituents a to the nitrogen atom (38) undergo 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with methyl propiolate to form isoxazolo[2,3-a]pyridines (39) and (40) with high regio- and stereo-specificity (Scheme 14).64 The chiral cyclic nitrones (41) undergo asymmetric 3 + 2-cycloaddition reaction with a, /i-unsaturated carbonyl compounds to form cycloadducts (42) with very high diastereomeric excess (>99%) (Scheme 15).65... 

The DFT study of the 3 + 2-cycloaddition between ketene and TV-silyl-, IV-germyl-, and TV-stannyl-imines shows that the TV-germylimine reaction is a two-step process the TV-stannylimine reaction is a competition between two- and three-step processes whereas the TV-silyl process follows a three-step process44 A new and convenient synthesis of functionalized furans and benzofurans based on 3 + 2-cycloaddition/oxidation has been reported. The cyclization of cyclic 1,3-bis-silyl enol ethers (48) with l-chloro-2,2-dimethoxyethane (49), via a dianion, produced 5,6-bicyclic 2-alkylidenetetrahydrofurans (50), which are readily oxidized with DDQ to 2,3-unsubstituted benzofurans (51) (Scheme 13)45 The Evans bis(oxazoline)-Cu(II) complex catalyses the asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of a -hydroxyenones with nitrones to produce isoxazolidines.46 The... 

These results indicate that the sulfinyl group seems to be much more efficient in the control of the stereoselectivity of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions (endo or exo adducts are exclusively obtained in de> 80%) than in Diels-Alder processes (mixtures of all four possible adducts were formed). Additionally, complete control of the regioselectivity of the reaction was observed. Despite these clearly excellent results, the following paper concerning asymmetric cycloaddition of cyclic nitrones and optically pure vinyl sulfoxides was reported nine years later [154]. (Meanwhile, only one paper [155], related to the synthesis of /1-nicotyri-nes, described the use of reaction of nitrones with racemic vinyl sulfoxides, but these substrates were merely used as a masked equivalent of acetylene dipolaro-phile). In 1991, Koizumi et al. described the reaction of one of the best dipolarophiles, the sulfinyl maleimide 109, with 3,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridine 1-oxide 194 [154]. It proceeded in CH2C12 at -78 °C to afford a 60 20 10 6 mixture of four products in ca. 90 % yield (Scheme 92). 

Frederickson, M. Optically Active Isoxazolidines via Asymmetric Cycloaddition Reactions of Nitrones with Alkenes-Applications in Organic Synthesis, Tetrahedron, 1997, 53, 403-425. 

In a recent report, an asymmetric electrophilic hydroxyamination of a chiral A-acylsultam was used to give a nitrone which then underwent a cycloaddition reaction with styrene to ultimately produce, after several additional steps, (-)-allosedamine (178) [452]. 

Some new combinations of chiral ligands with different Lewis acids have been lately evaluated in catalytic asymmetric 1,3-DC reactions of nitrones. When the complex derived from copper(II) triflate and bis(oxazoline) 72 was used as chiral catalyst in the cycloaddition of nitrone 66 and crotonate 68, both endo and exo isomers were obtained with very high enantioselectivities (7 3 dr > 99% ee). In this reaction, the presence of molecular sieves 4 A (MS) was crucial as in their absence the nitrone decomposed and almost no cycloadduct was obtained <04TL9581>. Sibi et al. found that square planar complexes derived from copper triflate and some chiral bisoxazolines favour the COZ-exo approach in the 1,3-DC of nitrone... 

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